Recommended therapy for several medical conditions requires that the legs of the patient be supported and maintained in parallel planes.
It is also desirable under certain conditions that when the patient is in a supine position, the knees be supported in a flexed position. It is still further desirable in some instances to provide support for bedcovers to prevent discomfort to injured or painful limbs.
A conventional pillow is often used for the above purposes. However, it usually requires frequent adjustment, generally necessitating the assistance of another person, particularly when the patient desires to move between a supine and a lateral decubitus position.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,730 (Rajan) there is disclosed a planar foam body for positioning between the legs, and upstanding wall portions along end lateral edge of the body to retain the legs of a user in a desired lateral position. No provision is made for flexure of the pillow at the knees of the user.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,477 (Moore) there is disclosed a knee pillow. A V notch of limited depth is provided in one lateral side, of the pillow, and a plurality of slits are provided in the opposed lateral side to facilitate flexure of the pillow at the knee.
The instant invention seeks to provide a leg pillow for maintaining the legs in parallelism while permitting the pillow to flex at the knee joint.
It also seeks to provide a leg pillow that may be used by patients with little or no assistance from other persons for the adjustment of the pillow. It further seeks to provide a leg pillow that will assist in supporting bed covers.
It still further seeks to provide a leg pillow system that will support the knees in a raised, flexed position.